Sir Robin Buchanan Nicholson, (born 12 August 1934) is a British industrial metallurgist and academic, who served as Chief Scientific Adviser, Cabinet Office, from 1983 to 1985. He then joined the board of Rolls-Royce plc, where he served until 2005. He was also a non-executive board member of BP plc and Pilkington plc.

Early life and education

Nicholson was born in

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, to Carroll Nicholson and Nancy Esther Levi. After attending Oundle School, Nicholson studied natural sciences at

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

, gaining a BA in 1956, followed by a PhD in

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

in 1959. He was a fellow of

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, from 1962 to 1966, and was made a lecturer in metallurgy at Cambridge in 1964, before becoming professor of metallurgy at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

in 1966. He joined the European subsidiary of the

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

company Inco in 1972, initially to be the director of its research laboratory, becoming a director in 1975, and managing director from 1976-1981. He was elected in 1980 as a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

. In 1981 he joined the

Central Policy Review Staff The Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS), nicknamed the "Think-Tank", was an independent unit within the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom tasked with developing long term strategy and co-ordinating policy across government departments. It was es ...

in the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

, before becoming Chief Scientific Adviser, Cabinet Office from 1983-85. He was also a member of the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) from 1978 to 1981, and a member of the UK Government's Council for Science and Technology (CST) from its inception in March 1993 to March 2000. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in March 1978. He then re-joined the private sector, becoming a director of Pilkington plc and Rolls-Royce plc in 1986; and BP plc in 1987, where as chairman of the remuneration committee until 2005 he was several times the target of public criticism for approving steep increases in executive pay. Nicholson was elected a member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 1983, with a citation for his leadership in government/industry engineering policy, in bio-engineering, in theory of precipitation hardening in metals (his research field in the early 1960s), and in solar energy materials systems. Nicholson was the first chairman of the National Energy Foundation, from its inception in 1988 until replaced by Mary Archer in 1990; he remained on its board of trustees until 1996. In 1998, he published ''Science and Technology in the United Kingdom'' in the series of Cartermill Guides to World Science & Technology. ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'', 1998: p. 1465 Nicholson was a Member of Council of

Exeter University , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

until 2011.

Personal life

In 1958, Nicholson married Elizabeth Mary Caffyn, daughter of Sir Sydney Caffyn. They had two daughters- Jennifer and Helen along with a son- Timothy. Elizabeth Mary died in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Robin 1934 births Living people British metallurgists People educated at Oundle School Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal Society Chief Scientific Advisers to HM Government BP people